The bruise on Mia Circuit's neck ceases to fade.
Purplish-blue contusions scatter across the Victors face, swirling from the bottom of her chin down to the top of her collarbones. The swell of her neck is prominent, showing the damage that has been done. Her voice is slowly returning back to normal, the rasp deteriorating the more her vocal cords rest.
The stylists leave the ugly bruise as it is on purpose. They leave it to show what Roma's hands could do. They leave it to show the monster she really is, and the crowd gets to see it live. The crowd is allowed to hate Roma more and more.
Roma has her own clump of bruises, but they've decided to cover them up. She doesn't deserve pity as Mia does. She doesn't deserve any of this attention. She doesn't deserve the other half of the Victors crown.
"I'll always have a heart for District Twelve..."
Mia was performing her well-prepared speech, taking her time as the audience beams at the true survivor. District Twelve was never known for smiling at the Victors, but Roma spots a few grins amongst the crowd, and the unsettling feeling in her stomach hits her again.
She clenches her fists tightly until her nails dig into the palm of her hand, but she barely notices. The only thing she is really aware of is the sound of her heart throbbing against the cage of her chest. It's not until she looks into the trans, that she's aware she's been biting her lip so badly it's bleeding. A few stares turn to Roma and murmurs arise, staring at the blood running down her lip. Roma quick wipes it off, leaving the blood to dry on her fingers.
Kade lived here.
While his voice is gone, she still thinks of him. She almost misses his voice in her head, and Anika's, and Grainne's, but they are all truly gone. They vanished after Roma's hands wrapped around Mia's throat, but she knows she didn't do her duty. She knows she's failed all the dead.
"Kade seemed like a wonderful young man..."
"He was actually twenty-three."
The crowd falls silent at Roma's words, even more silent than the quietness they've been giving Mia.
Roma clears her throat and looks at Mia. "Kade was twenty-three, and you're only twenty-two. So, he's older than you-not a young man in your eyes."
Mia scolds back at her. She hasn't spoken to her since the end of the Games before Roma tried to kill her. The entire crowd mumbles to one another, nudging shoulders and holding glares. It was not Roma's turn to speak, nor did the crowd want her to speak anyways.
Roma shifts her weight onto her right leg, the paper in her hand crumbling with her sweat. People always told her she'd feel better if she put her feelings on paper, so she did. But she always knew deep down inside, neither the ink in her pen or the stencil in her pencil are strong enough to handle the words she wants to write.
The paper was there for guidance. The paper was there for Roma to fiddle with, but there was no way Roma could express her thoughts through the paper only. There was so much to say about Kade- but would she say it? Would his District allow her to say it?
"Thank you for your understanding of the need for survival. I wish your District well."
Mia folds her paper neatly in half as few people clap. Heads turn and eyes narrow towards Roma. Behind them, the sun begins to set. The sun peeks through a hazy screen of clouds, painting the sky an elaborate mix of bloodied reds and vibrant oranges, intertwined with the smoky greys that permeated this skyward canvas.
Roma takes a breath as the crowd waits impatiently, not letting Roma receive the honor a Victor should hold.
"I think I was better off dead."
